1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to luggage containers and more specifically luggage incorporating an integral weighing device for determining when the luggage/contents weight exceeds a predetermined threshold.
2. Description of the Background
In the travel industry, the vast majority of transportation carriers such as airlines have implemented checked luggage policies that restrict the weight of luggage containers to a certain maximum weight per bag, for example 50 lbs per bag, to prevent worker injury and vehicle or aircraft overloading. Typically, luggage weight is determined at the ticket counter when passengers and their baggage are checked in for travel. If a piece of luggage exceeds the weight limit, the traveler must reduce the weight of the bag by transferring some of the contents to another luggage container (and potentially incurring fees for additional luggage), or must leave various articles to reduce the weight commonly by simply discarding items or by placing items in their personal vehicle or a locker to be retrieved on their return. This is extraordinarily inconvenient and potentially costly. To avoid this inconvenience and cost, travelers sometimes carry their own scale to weigh their luggage containers before checking them in for travel and, ideally, before leaving home. An example of such personal travel scales is U.S. Pat. No. 7,550,684 to Ronald Kritzler issued Jun. 23, 2009 which discloses a portable handheld electronic scale for precisely this purpose. An audible signal is provided by the Kritzler scale when the measured weight of an article exceeds a set limit.
It would be more convenient to provide a weight-threshold indicator device integral to the luggage container itself, for indicating whether the container exceeds a certain weight.